What is a Non-Compete Agreement?

Posted on Aug 4, 2017 8:00am PDT

Any documents pertaining to your employment, whether for a new company
or to continue your current work, should be handled with care. For many
employers, drawing up a non-compete agreement can help serve their needs
while limiting their employees. If you are asked to sign a non-compete
agreement by your employer, make sure you understand what you’re
getting yourself into.

A non-compete agreement, also called a covenant not- to- compete
and requires an employee to provide a certain degree of loyalty to their place
of employment. This can mean a number of things but typically prohibits
the employee from starting a competing business, working for a competitor,
or giving away trade secrets. Non-compete agreements are often used in
medical, sales, and technology fields where information pertaining to
each company is considered particularly important. Employers may also
use these documents to ensure employees do not also take work at other
businesses in the same field where there will be a conflict of interests.

While these agreements protect the employer from additional competition,
they can sometimes undercut the employee. In order to be legally valid,
a non-competition agreement must
be created outofprotect the
legitimate business interest of the employer and must make reasonable requests in
regards to time and region. That is to say, the agreement must be clear
about how much time must pass before an employee may work in the same
field, or what region they may not work in.

Sometimes non-compete agreements are intentionally broad in scope, limiting
an employee in more ways than he or she may initially realize. Employees
who sign non-compete agreements may sometimes put the employee at a disadvantage
in the future, even preventing him or her from earning a living. If you
are presented with a non-compete agreement by your employer or future
employer, seek legal help before signing. There are many ways in which
an agreement could be unreasonable and numerous specifics, particularly
dates and regions, which should be outlined in detail for the benefit
of the employee.

It is also important to recognize that even if you have signed already
signed a non-compete agreement, there may be legal defenses to enforcement.Do not assume that threats of legal action by a former employer require
you to forfeit a valuable career opportunity.

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